Average person in the UK spends £11k on rent before buying

The average Brit spends a staggering £11,100 on rent before buying their first home, new research has shown.

They will rent on average for three years before buying their own home, spending an additional £577 on letting fees and £587 in security deposits

People on average start renting at the age of 21 after leaving home, according to a poll of 2,000 tenants and home-owners.

While 60% of people believe it is financially unwise to rent, 25% do not view renting as unwise.

The most common number of homes rented before buying is one (for 56% of people) followed by two (20%), with most people renting alone (29%) or with one other person (55%).

The research was carried out by letting agent Harry Dhaliwal of the national property group Belvoir, ahead of forthcoming changes to buy-to-let stamp duty being introduced in April.

Industry related figures show that 22% of households in the UK are now rented from private landlords, up from 9% in 1985.

The average rent in UK is £761 per month including rents in London, though excluding London the average drops to £689 per month across the rest of the UK.

The average monthly rent in London is now £1560.

Manchester-based letting agent Harry Dhaliwal who runs the city’s franchise of the Belvoir group, commented, “Sometimes the rhetoric around generation rent becomes quite exaggerated and whilst the rental market is growing so is the quality and variety of rental property.

“The findings of our survey highlight that renting across the UK is not as expensive as sometimes reported and most people get full deposits back from landlords. It remains to be seen what effect the stamp duty changes to buy-to-let purchases will have in April.”

“Whilst the struggles for first time buyers in London and high rental cost in the capital are well documented, the picture across the UK in general may not be as grey as it is sometimes depicted.

“There are superb professional opportunities in most of the UK’s main cities and in the digital age the flexibility around employment and running a business mean renting or buying outside London has probably never been more attractive.”